Billionaires appear terrified of an Elizabeth Warren presidency — but the idea of taxing the rich isn’t new. Dan and Axios CEO Jim VandeHei dig into the politics of wealth taxes and the prospect of billionaire Mike Bloomberg joining the presidential field.
Uber's long-running battle with Google-owned Waymo over rights to autonomous vehicle tech took a new twist this week, as Uber disclosed new obligations in a regulatory filing.
The impact: Uber says it will likely either have to pay Waymo a license fee or make changes to its autonomous driving systems that "could require substantial time and resources to implement, and could limit or delay our production of autonomous vehicle technologies."
Short-form video app TikTok is under political scrutiny in the U.S. for its possible ties to the Chinese government, with Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) calling the company "China's best detective." We dig into the controversy with Sen. Blackburn.
CloudKitchens, a startup founded by former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, has raised $400 million from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Why it matters: CloudKitchens was the Saudi fund's first known deal in Silicon Valley since the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year and was completed in January. Several companies backed away from doing business with Saudi Arabia in the immediate aftermath of Khashoggi's death, but as Axios' Dan Primack notes, there has been no fundamental change. The sovereign wealth fund is Uber's fifth-largest outside shareholder.
Oracle, the business software giant, has maintained exceptional sway with the Trump administration that has helped it win policy battles and thwart its larger competitors.
Why it matters: The techlash that's causing headaches for Google, Facebook and Amazon has yet to hit Oracle. Instead, the company is helping stoke some aspects of the tech critique in D.C. itself — highlighting the distinction between its own fee-for-service model and free, ad-based businesses.
